Parents
of Public School Children Beware!
Transformative
Education, A Looming Disaster
By Dr. Charles Ormsby
(10-9-11)
Learning about the latest educational
fads must be one of the most boring
experiences known to mankind. But if you
have a child in a public school and you
care about his or her education and
future prospects, you should be
forewarned that the latest,
politically-correct education fad is on
your doorstep.
The new elixir is called Transformative
Education and public schools are being
duped into adopting this pseudo-education
philosophy. Before proceeding, please
read the summary in the nearby box.
If your eyes glaze over as you read this,
I sympathize with you. Count yourself as
lucky that you didnt have to read
the whole article, or even worse, the
remainder of the conference proceedings.
All lies must be mixed with little bits
of sweetener and self-evident truths.
These are added to make the poison more
palatable. Who would disagree that transformation
is to be the goal of any education
community? Or that students need a
safe, supportive, sustainable,
nurturing
environment?
Yes, we want to transform students from
being ignorant children with few skills
to knowledgeable young adults with a
broad and useful set of skills. And, of
course, we want to do this in a safe,
supportive
Oh heck, this is such
obvious pabulum it doesnt deserve
further attention.
If the leaders of our public schools have
not been stressing these attributes every
day they go to work, I propose we take
them out to the school yard next week and
beat them with a stick. <(;-)
Such indisputable filler is the Trojan
horse of all new-fangled education
philosophies. None of these sweeteners
are new or add anything of value to the
obvious list of policies to be honored by
any educational institution.
There are two major objections to this
latest fad: What is included AND what is
missing.
First, what is
missing:
Do you see any references to academic
content? There are none, unless you think
that our public schools are training
community organizers.
Are there any innovative pedagogical
techniques? Not unless you think casting
teachers as role models,
facilitators and mentors, co-inquirers
and critical friends, experienced
co-learners, respectful guides and
compassionate helpers in the educational
process represents an educational
breakthrough.
All teachers understand that they need to
develop a relationship with their
students; one that is conducive to
learning. For some students this is best
achieved with a smile while others
require a not-so-polite kick in the butt.
Some students challenge themselves and
merely need encouragement while others
require a frank discussion of the
consequences of ignorance.
Students and teachers are not
co-learners. Certainly a teacher should
always be learning, but the student
teacher relationship is not one of
co-equal learners. The teacher is the
teacher over 99% of the time for grades
K-12.
Are educational priorities that relate to
established fields of study (e.g.,
language arts, mathematics, science, and
history) provided, or is guidance given
regarding suggested achievement goals?
No. In fact, the article rails against
such prescriptive curricula.
Faults with what
is included:
Given the glaring absence of any guidance
concerning key issues, the consistent
smattering of leftist political jargon is
very unsettling. Least offensive is the
knee-jerk support for adequate
funding for facilities, teacher training,
and the support of low class size
and overall learner-educator ratio
now called human scale,
a new buzz phrase to confuse and disarm
the public.
More offensive is the admitted agenda of
promoting social justice,
leftist code for advancing a socialist
state, promoting wealth re-distribution,
and demanding equal outcomes (not equal
opportunity).
After outlining their vision in the
original article, the authors concluded
by unveiling their real agenda: Despite
the fact that our main analysis focused
on individual transformation and personal
growth, the real underlying discussion
was on a larger scale of transformation
social transformation and
ultimately building a better world. In
todays world, when we are
constantly confronted by social injustice
and inequality, the unbalanced
distribution of material resources and,
above all, political power residing in
the hands of a few, (the) transformative
educational vision has an important role
to play in making a difference in the
world situation. [Emphasis added.]
Is this what our public schools need? Is
this what parents want as the philosophy
that guides their childrens
education? Will this serve to improve
academic outcomes? Will this provide the
basis for our students to succeed or
excel in college?
Public schools have produced abysmal
educational outcomes for decades. A high
percentage of students departing our
public schools (especially urban school
districts) read and write at or below the
eighth grade level. Their math and
science skills are often even worse.
What our schools need is a REAL
transformation, not a politicization of
the educational process.
What would be most helpful is expanding
competition in education; i.e., providing
meaningful school choice for students and
parents.
Short of that, administrators and school
boards must:
Set high, quantitative academic
goals with specific achievement dates
Ensure that a well coordinated
curriculum is in place that sets high
expectations for academic achievement at
every grade level
Set standards for teacher
performance and ensure that effective
teacher performance evaluations are
consistently carried out
Insist that ineffective teachers
rapidly improve or be dismissed and that
high performance teachers be adequately
rewarded (with higher pay or bonuses)
Use the bully pulpit to actively
encourage parental involvement
Insist that disruptive students be
removed from regular classrooms
Be on the alert for education fads
that waste resources or do not
effectively improve academic results
Locally, the Lawrence School Committee is
searching for a new superintendent who
will be transformative.
If the transformation they want is a real
and rapid improvement in academic
outcomes, the Committee should seek a
superintendent who will aggressively
pursue the policies listed above while
rejecting destructive education fads like
Transformative Education.
Absent this, Lawrence parents should grab
their children and head for the exits as
fast as they can.
You can email Dr. Ormsby at ccormsby@comcast.net
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